Status Updates From Appeasing Hitler: Chamberla...

“At the heart of British policy was…a paradox: the British were resolved that they should not and could not commit to the defense of Czechoslovakia and yet, by their own actions, they became almost inextricably linked to the fate of that fragile country” (210).

Very helpful information at the start of chapter 12 about Czechoslovakia and how it was “created out of the rubble of the former Hapsburg Empire” in 1918. My European history is struggling to keep up here—lots to learn!

Hunting for Peace is such a good chapter. Lord Halifax and others who saw Nazism as less of a threat seemed not to be able to recognize that what the Nazis were doing on a small scale in their own country (terrorizing Jews and Communists) is also what they would do on a large scale. Those who could connect those things saw more clearly. Obvious in hindsight of course. Make me want to reread Remains of the Day.

This seems the right book at the right time, so here I go!